Merdian mayor outlines crime fighting initiatives

Meridian Mayor Percy Bland

Meridian Mayor Percy Bland wants to raise the number of police officers in the department to 110 and provide higher pay to them.

"We are in need of those men and women on the streets to give the residents the peace of mind they are entitled," Bland said at a news conference this past week, according to The Meridian Star.

"Chief (James) Lee has told me we are losing officers to other agencies because we just don't pay enough," Bland said. "I'm going to work more closely with the members of the Meridian City Council to correct this."

Lee said he reads reports each day that list the number of calls each shift receives and he knows the number of officers he has available on any given day.

"The officers are getting overworked and that leads to bad decisions," Lee said recently. "We have to have more officers and we have to be able to keep them on this force, not some other force in another city. To do that we have to pay them more."

Public safety will be a major topic between Bland and Lee in the coming weeks as the holiday seasons approach. Bland wants everyone, including people from outside Meridian, to feel like they will be safe when they come to shop.

"We will be increasing patrols in the mall areas and other portions of Meridian where shoppers will be concentrating," Bland said.

Bland said he will work with Mississippi Power Co. to get every street light working by the time for the holiday season.

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Merdian mayor outlines crime fighting initiatives

Meridian Mayor Percy Bland wants to raise the number of police officers in the department to 110 and provide higher pay to them.